What will Doc Rivers do now that trade talks with the Los Angeles Clippers are reportedly dead?

According to Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, the team has alerted Rivers he's still wanted on the sidelines. Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Rivers is "unsure" about returning to the Celtics bench, which makes sense.

It's tough to preach Ubuntu after attempting to abandon most of the players on your team. Maybe not everybody in the locker room will see Rivers' attempts to join the Los Angeles Clippers as abandonment, but it's obvious he preferred to coach another team. I don't claim to know Rajon Rondo's innermost thoughts, yet I can't imagine he's thrilled that his only NBA head coach wanted out of his contract to try winning a title with Chris Paul (I know that's a very simplified version of events, but still).

Rivers remains under contract for three seasons and $21 million, and it's very clear by now the Celtics won't let him leave without significant compensation. Because of a non-compete clause in his contract, he can't coach anywhere else for the next three years unless Boston allows him to.

Should he decide to take a break from coaching, Rivers would be wanted badly as a television analyst. But this doesn't seem like other seasons, when he contemplated time off because he was burned out. He's attended many pre-draft workouts in Waltham and held many conversations with Ainge about which direction the Celtics should travel. He was open to a deal to the Clippers, so obviously he's not convinced that he wants to step away from coaching altogether. He might hesitate to lead a quasi-rebuilding team, but Rivers isn't sick of his job. And if money is an issue (it might not be, since Rivers has earned plenty of riches through his career), he has millions of reasons to stay in Boston.

If you've felt like you're on a seesaw reading about the swings in the Rivers saga, imagine how his assistant coaches feel right now. Their contracts are set to expire at the end of the month and they don't know whether they'll remain employed next season. Talks with the Clippers might have broken down, but there's certainly no promise Rivers will return to his old gig -- and if he leaves, his assistants will need to scramble for jobs.

At least two have been (or are being) considered elsewhere. Ty Lue has been pursued by the Toronto Raptors and perhaps other teams, and Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reported that Mike Longabardi is being seriously considered for a spot on the Phoenix Suns bench. The Boston Globe's Baxter Holmes added that Longabardi has already interviewed in Phoenix, so Rivers' assistants could at least have other options.

The Celtics need an answer soon so they know whether to search for a replacement, and Rivers is expected to give one during the next couple of days. It's tough to imagine him returning after everything that transpired during the last week, but it was also tough to envision him encouraging a trade to the Clippers.